As a product focused industry, Australia is fast becoming a ‘must have’ that the global fashion community cannot get enough of. The original and unique style of Australian fashion is increasingly taking the world by storm with down under designs being stocked in over 75 countries around the world even in some of the most unexpected and remote countries such as Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.
Inspired by an extraordinary range of Australian fashion textiles and cultural influences, many Australian designers have made their mark around the word including dynamic designers such as Sass & Bide, Wayne Cooper, Carla Zampatti, Easton Pearson, Nicola Finetti, Bettina Liano, Martin Grant, Michelle Jank and Lisa Ho.
The work of Collette Dinnigan has also been making its mark internationally since the 1990s. Dinnigan’s work was the first Australian to mount a full-scale ready-to-wear parade in Paris in 1995. Dinnigan now has a store in Los Angeles, displays her label twice yearly in Parisian Fashion parades and has an extensive high-profile fan list with the likes of Naomi Watts, Sarah O’Hare, Helena Christensen and Charlize Theron.
A more recent designer who has broken into the international market is Sydney designer Ben Pollitte. Pollitte has been selected to join the Australian Wool Industry’s international protégé project, a program in the brainchild of Franca Sozzanie, editor of Vogue Italia, who pairs promising young designers with some of fashion’s most prominent figures like Karl Largerfeld. The mentorship will have Pollitt working with big-name designers to create a collection using Australian wool.
Whilst the global downturn has injured the fashion industry, in Australia and abroad, healthy sales are still being made in all-Australian New York fashion shops from designers such as Jayson Brunsdon, Camilla and Marc, Kirrily Jonson and Mad Cortes, among others, with predicted sales in excess of $60 million compared with $40 million in sales last year and just $2 million in sales 10 years ago.
Austrade alone also continues to attract international buyers to all Australian fashion events including Rosemount Australian Fashion Week and the Melbourne L’Oreal Fashion Festival with representatives from top fashion houses in the USA, the UK, Canada, Italy, Singapore, Ireland, UAE, Japan, Hong Kong, China and New Zealand. Austrade’s role is to ensure they have the opportunity to show and meet with international visitors and maximise their chances of making significant export sales.
As fashion continues to be a successful export market for Australia, equal in measure is the growth that has occurred in other employment opportunities in the fashion industry including fashion journalism, fashion styling, make-up and hair styling, fashion photography and modelling. Australia has developed an international reputation for producing some of the emerging stars of the fashion world, from designers to models. Supermodels such as Elle McPherson (now with her own high-end lingerie line), Miranda Kerr, Gemma Ward and Megan Gale have reinforced Australia’s place on the world stage.
With Australian designs seen on celebrities including Cameron Diaz and Kate Moss, Australian designers will continue to have their eyes set on the global fashion stage and aspire to achieve similar success experienced by those who have successfully made their mark internationally.
Indiana Holley 